Looking back on it, for those who used Schweser (me), would you use Schweser again or go with the CFAI books? If I end up repeating L2 I am definitely not going the Schweser route. Some things showed up on the exam that I only had a clue about because of AF.
I chose Schweser because of the study time savings. If I re-take, which I’m not counting on, I’ll definitely reverse the approach and do CFAI texts and all the EOC first since I won’t be coming into the information cold as I did for this round.
i woud ditch schweser nxt time
I’m out with Schweser. Repeat or not, I’m using CFA only.
Whether I am re-taking level 2 or moving on level 3 I plan on buying the question bank only. It never hurts to do as many practice problems as possible.
I used only the CFAI text despite the fact I had only 4 months to prepare. Yep I passed LI in Dec and started in Feb. IMO you can use the Q-bank at best for doing “additional” practice questions after going through an LOS. I have nothing against Schweiser but I believe they will surely miss out on some details, in the name of saving time, that are often tested in the exams.
You’re not really saving time if you’re retaking the test a year later. One level III’er and one that had done all 3 all advised me that Schweser lacks a lot of details. I did use the EOC’s but i focused my studies more on Qbank than on the EOC’s.
Schweser no no no. What a mistake! =(
No more Schweser – extremely unhelpful. Hopefully theyre looking at this board and realizing they need to make improvements or lose customers.
I used only Schweser for studies, but worked all EOC questions from the CFAI texts and I felt pretty prepared in the exam. You would come across questions (like Ibotson Chen) in the CFAI EOC questions that weren’t in Schweser, and that’s where I would make the extra notecards. Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with them, but I don’t know how effective Schweser will be for L3. I will probably switch to CFAI for L3 (I’m knocking on wood right now)…
As a retaker I would say that Schweser on its own isnt enough. Its important to atleast do as many of the EOC questions as you can and read the CFA for any material that you dont understand. You learn alot from doing the CFA end of chapter questions and it gets you adapted to the CFA mindset. Also, dont even bother looking at Schweser for ethics, just use the CFA. Ibotson Chen is in the Schweser material but they dont even bother to call it by name, they just call it a Supply Side Model. Schweser also tested Ibotson Chen in their practice test.
I would say at least Schweser+CFAI EOC. CFAI text + EOC’s had me fairly comfortable in the exam room, but we’ll see come August.
me too only used Schweser and got sexually violated in all holes by the exam
I read a post by someone which hit home for me. Schweser notes are exactly that, they’re notes. I read all the CFAI material and reviewed by reading through the Schweser notes and my own notes which I made from the CFAI books. Schweser was actually pretty good in that although they missed some stuff (i.e, they didn’t mention electronic crossing networs, they didn’t call “expected alpha” “ex-ante alpha”, and other small details that CFAI had), but when it came down to the FRA stuff, it was solid. They’re brief, but as a review they are really good because they simplify the details into a format which is understandable and easier to study (not endless paragraphs of accounting rules and micro-detailed examples). When I read the Schweser notes I read every sentence as each one was basically a summary of a paragraph from CFAI. If you approach Schweser in this sense it does provide a decent grounding for the major concepts. I would get Schweser again as a review, but I would not use it as my only study source.
I don’t necessarily love Schweser (I think their test bank of questions needs a lot more volume of questions, and harder questions), but just to set the record straight, Schweser notes *did* cover: 1. ex-ante alpha 2. internal & external crossing 3. Ibbotson-Chen At least, I’m pretty sure. I only used Schweser and none of that looked completely unfamiliar.
@gjertsen Agreed, it did cover those topics, but it did not cover ECN networks. It did outline that you can use internal and external crossing to reduce commissions, but CFAI went over how orders are filled on an Electronic Crossing Network which is NOT the same thing as external crossing. It did cover ex-ante alpha, but called it expected alpha, and it did not go over ex-post alpha. Did cover Ibbotson-Chen - which was actually enough to get you by on the exam.
For level 1 I did schweser only and it was more than enough. For level 2 I also did schweser only, and I don’t believe it was enough (for me). I didn’t look at any EOC questions (ever) until a week before the exam. If (when, most likely) I retake level 2 I will use CFAI and buy only the Q-Bank
TDIGZ Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > @gjertsen > > Agreed, it did cover those topics, but it did not > cover ECN networks. It did outline that you can > use internal and external crossing to reduce > commissions, but CFAI went over how orders are > filled on an Electronic Crossing Network which is > NOT the same thing as external crossing. > > It did cover ex-ante alpha, but called it expected > alpha, and it did not go over ex-post alpha. > > Did cover Ibbotson-Chen - which was actually > enough to get you by on the exam. honestly though, they mention it once in the notes, then have 0 Qbank questions on it and skip over it in the secret sauce…Secret sauce i can understand, its meant to skip some things out, but whats the excuse for no qbank questions on it, when there are over 4000 questions? Just a bad job, imo.
I can say pretty specifically the answer to this particular question. I used Schweser last year and failed. I used CFAI this year and felt much better. I don’t think the Schweser notes are inadequate, but i would certainly not rely on their questions. I think the CFAI EOC questions this year made the difference for me. I woudl say the Schweser notes are a gret tool, but no substitute for CFAI. I used no schweser notes this attempt, but did use qbank and sauce.
I went through CFA EOC in May. I didn’t revise them thouroughly though. That was my error. I am not touching Qbank anymore. The issue I have with the EOC. There were sections with absolutely NO EOC’s. WTF is up with that???